Video shows apparent maggot in school lunch; SCS investigates

2014-09-09T22:13:13Z2014-09-10T22:19:25Z

(Source: Instagram)

(WMC) - Maggots reportedly found in school lunches at Overton High School have students concerned about their safety when it comes to their daily meals. Students say if there was one, there could be many.

In the Instagram video, you can see a student's mystery meal waiting to be eaten when an apparent maggot pops out and squirms around on the plate.

Shelby County Schools sent WMC Action News 5 the following statement regarding the incident Monday:

"A student reported that they found what appeared to be an insect on their meal. School and district staff have since conducted a thorough inspection of the cafeteria and kitchen to ensure that no other meals were contaminated. They found that no additional food items were compromised."

However, on Monday another Overton High School student reported to our newsroom there were more maggots found in a school lunch.

"It was just nasty, and we need better lunches because I was eating my chicken sandwich and a maggot popped out," said the Overton High School student who wished to remain unidentified.

The student said a petition entitled "Better Lunches, No Maggots" has been created in hope for a change.

SCS says it takes cafeteria cleanliness seriously and have recently put a renewed focus on school lunch. The SCS Central Nutrition Center is becoming an example for districts across the nation, and it prepares the meals for more than 200 of the schools in the district in one kitchen.

Shelby County Schools sent a second statement Wednesday:

It has been reported on some news outlets that multiple students are now claiming to have found maggots in their lunches this week at Overton High School. It is true that we have confirmation of one student finding an insect in a single meal. This is certainly regrettable; however, we do want to be very clear that there have been no maggots found in any meals this week. The temperatures at which our food is prepared and served do not allow for a maggot to be present. We believe it is probable that the insect found on one student's plate may have come from a piece of fresh fruit that was served. We have performed a thorough inspection of all food supplies and found no evidence of contamination. Still, as a precaution, we discarded the food items that were used to prepare meals on the date of this report, and we have no further evidence to suggest this issue extends beyond one student's plate. We serve more than 120,000 nutritious meals a day in our District, so we take food safety extremely seriously. All of our nutrition services employees are trained and certified in all aspects of food safety, including food preparation, handling and service.